County Executive Tom Gordon has selected Capt. Elmer Setting to serve as acting chief of the New Castle County Police Department.

Setting will be succeeding former Chief Scott McLaren who resigned as Police Chief and Public Safety Director Nov. 21.

Setting, 46, joined the County Police in 1989 as a uniform patrol officer.

In 1992 he was selected to transfer to the Mounted Patrol Unit and in 1998, was promoted to Police Sergeant.

He continued to rise through the ranks, reaching Captain in 2004.

From 2010 to 2011, Setting served again as Commander of the Uniform Patrol Section and from January until now, served as the Commander of the Special Operations Section.

Gordon said that he looks forward to working with Setting.

"Captain Setting is a veteran police officer who has held numerous positions within the New Castle County Police Department from commanding the Special Operations and the Criminal Investigations units to field operations and several facets in between," Gordon said in a statement Tuesday.

Setting graduated from the F.B.I. National Academy, Session 208, in March 2002 and is working towards his Bachelor's Degree.

Prior to joining the police force, Setting served in the United States Navy where he was awarded the U.S. Navy Expeditionary Medal and the Presidential Unit Citation from President Ronald Regan for Operation Distant Hammer in 1986.

He said that he is honored to serve the County in his new role.

"My life has been dedicated to community policing and I look forward to working with my fellow police men and women to provide citizens a safe and secure New Castle County," Setting said.

Former County Executive Paul G. Clark appointed McLaren Chief in Sept. 2011.